Attention Locavores: Community Supported Agriculture (aka CSA)

Locavore: a new coinage to indicate an individual who chooses to consume locally obtained food (loca – from “local” -vore from the latin “vorare” meaning to eat or devour). An off-shoot of the philosophy that buying locally produced or grown food-stuffs (fresh produce, meat, poultry, fish, cheeses or even flowers…) leaves a smaller carbon footprint on the environment than buying the very same ingredients at supermarkets or grocery stores where they may be making their way to the consumers from as far away as China or Chile (see Organic vs Being Green – Which is Better?).

Thankfully, many of the locally grown produce and food-stuffs (local to New York City) generally follow organic or biodynamic growing practices, so you can kill two birds with one stone in terms of being green and being organic. However, it seems like the latest fad is in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). To quote the US Department of Agriculture:

Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or “share-holders” of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

The initiative to start a CSA program usually happens with a farm/farmer first, although there are a number of cases throughout the United States where a group of consumers banded together to support a farm or group of farms in order to reap the benefits of such an arrangement.

As of yet, it seems unlikely that CSA farms do anything other than grow produce, and meat or dairy farms haven’t quite filtered through the system yet to offer similar benefits. As far as Kosher consumers are concerned, if you reside in neighborhoods that are serviced by farms that have a CSA program, all the produce is technically Kosher (all rules and halachot regarding the checking and cleaning still apply just as they would if you purchased your produce from a regular store or supermarket). It also appears that share-holder costs vary from one CSA Farm to another, but generally provide less expensive produce per unit than you would spend at a supermarket or grocery store. The biggest criticism I keep hearing, however, is that the quantity of weekly (or bi-weekly, depending on the schedule of any given CSA farm) produce one receives usually exceeds that of what a family would normally consume and the fear of waste is omnipresent. As a chef, I consider this a wonderful opportunity to learn how to preserve many of these ingredients through pickling and other similar methods (like making jam from fruits), but for regular consumers, especially the busy ones living in NYC, they rarely have time to devote to such a process.

Personally, I think CSA programs are a great way to always get seasonal products that are fresh and in most cases, organically grown. This helps foster a connection to the land and provides many health benefits as it seems that the quality of the produce is generally very good since they can allow the harvest to mature properly and only gather at the last possible moment necessary before distributing to the share-holder. This is contrary to how most produce is made available to consumers where they are usually harvested long before they mature properly, and then are artifically induced into maturity or allowed to mature once already harvested (usually in crates and boxes) and on the way to the store.

If you are interested in finding CSA farms throughout the United States, LocalHarvest has a searchable directory by zip code or state, and can be found here: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/. What’s also really nice about LocalHarvest, is that they also contain resources to restaurants that primarily or exclusively utilize local and seasonal ingredients.

I’m so glad to hear about your positive experience with being involved in a CSA. It’s great to see how innovative people get with the ingredients that they have and finding creative ways of using the “surplus.” It’s amazing that there are people like you supporting these wonderful endeavors! I can’t wait for one to start servicing my neighborhood so I can get in on it too!!!

Shaya,
I tip my hat to you for following your passion and sharing your love with all of us. I just read your post on CSAs. As a member of a CSA, I always enjoy reading about ways to use the bounty of produce delivered (in my case every-other week) to my door. I just wanted to point out that since my deliveries arrive on the day of harvest, I find their shelf life to far exceed that of regular retail produce. You learn very quickly the pecking order of use. Items like root vegetables are always put to use at a later date. While the produce is delicious fresh, some of it we washed and freeze immediately so it can be enjoyed later. Another option is sharing. A friend and I split our share and it worked out amazingliy. Her children loved beets, my kids love chard. It also helped avoid boredom with items that come in abundance. Lastly, whatever didn’t get used before the next share came, became a soup, because frankly- who doesn’t love a good bowl of soup. So, here is the practical end of my diatribe…While produce is best tasting in season, it is also usually the best priced and recession friendly. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to give your readers tasty and affordable suggestions for seasonal produce? My roomate from college married a chef who is always an amazing soundingboard for food thoughts. I recently visited his restaurant where I was as usual, floored by his inginuity. Between courses he sent out parsley ice cream…unreal. Why? Becasue earlier that week he was left with a big fat extra bunch or parsley. Waste not want not.